A vast bowl built in the 1950s to showcase the sports might of the Soviet Union, Luzhniki has been transformed to host the World Cup final.

The old stands were ripped out and the athletics track from the 1980 Olympics torn up as the stadium was turned into a football-specific venue.

That increases capacity and comfort, while bringing fans closer to the action.

Luzhniki reopened on Nov. 11 when Argentina beat Russia 1-0 in a friendly. Russian fans praised the rebuild, but many were angry at how police handled the crowds afterward, forcing some supporters to spend up to 90 minutes getting to nearby public transport in near-freezing conditions.

Almost everything that could go wrong with the St. Petersburg stadium did.

Severe delays and soaring costs were just the start for a project which became notorious for employing North Korean laborers, one of whom is among at least eight to die on the stadium and 17 across all World Cup construction sites, according to the trade union Building and Wood Workers’ International.

A deputy governor of St. Petersburg has admitted his role in a 50-million-ruble ($850,000) scheme to siphon off the stadium’s budget, though officials say the true picture of corruption was much larger.

The spaceship-like arena — which will host a semifinal — remains plagued by a leaking roof and a pitch which grows so poorly it’s had to be replaced repeatedly.

However, Confederations Cup games passed largely without incident and Russia says it’s working to iron out any more problems.

This stadium in the Volga River city of Samara has proved tricky to finish on time.

Its ambitious design — a glass dome evoking Samara’s history as a center of the Russian space program — has needed extra time to build, and local officials have feuded with the companies doing the work.

One subcontractor allegedly went bankrupt this year after doing just a fraction of work valued at nearly $50 million and had to be replaced.

The stadium is on the outskirts of the city, so fans should allow plenty of time for travel to games including a World Cup quarterfinal.

Sweltering summer temperatures could be a problem for teams coming to the southern Russian steppe to play group or last-16 games in Rostov-on-Don.

The stadium sits on the bank of the Don river and is planned to become the center of a vast new housing and leisure development after the World Cup.

Some delays in construction seem to have been remedied. When the tournament is over, the stadium will become the new home of FC Rostov, which beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League group stage last season but has since slipped back into the Russian mid-table.

In the city once known as Stalingrad, every spot has wartime history, and the stadium is no different.

Workers had to deal with finding unexploded munitions and soldiers’ corpses from the World War II Battle of Stalingrad during work on the stadium, which sits at the foot of Russia’s best-known war memorial.

That location meant the stadium had to be designed with a low roof-line so as not to obscure views of “The Motherland Calls” sculpture.

The regional governor is hoping the draw brings Germany to his city for a moment of reconciliation 75 years after the Battle of Stalingrad ended.

With a population of just 300,000, Saransk was a surprise choice of host city for many Russians.

Located 10 hours by road south-east of Moscow, it’s by far the smallest of the 11 cities but hopes to make up for that with a warm welcome for foreigners at by far the biggest international event in the city’s history.

Many fans arriving for the World Cup won’t be staying in hotels — Saransk simply doesn’t have enough — but on campsites or in newly finished apartment blocks which will be sold after the tournament.

Large parts of the stadium are temporary, meaning it can be reduced to a 25,000-capacity venue after the tournament. Plans are afoot to set up shops and gyms in the structure.

Kaliningrad is the capital of a sliver of Russian land cut off from the rest of the country and sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania.

Until World War II, the city was part of Germany and called Koenigsberg. Officials are hoping its location and history make Kaliningrad an attractive destination for fans from other European countries.

The stadium, which will host only group games, is a compact, modest design which has been built quickly.

Two regional government officials and an engineering company executive have been arrested on suspicion of corruption involving the stadium. AP/AGENCIES